BBQ Festivals in May

One more month of Spring to go before the Summer season starts. Every season in the Smokies comes with its own set of natural wonders, pleasures, colors and a certain “spirit” in the events. For Spring, we celebrate nature’s reawakening with the newly minted emerald green of the mountains, the bright and pastels of the many gorgeous flowers that bloom from one end of the Tennessee hills to the other, the sublimely relaxing wind bursts, rains and 70-degree temperatures, and special events unlike any we have throughout the year. This Spring saw us celebrate quilts, ethnic festivities, recycling, military-style marching, celebrity musicians at Dollywood, hot rods and many more events across the cities and communities of Sevier County.

As far as festivities go, Spring is our most eclectic series, but the best is yet to come: we have not one, but TWO festivals coming to our area in May called “BBQ and Bluegrass” with minimal semantic difference in the titles. The small difference in event names is the only quirk, though, because both the “Bloomin’ BBQ and Bluegrass” and Dollywood’s “Barbeque and Bluegrass” events are extremely awesome events to attend, worth venturing hundreds of miles for, in fact! The amount of meat and music we get to enjoy this month is staggering and we’d like to invite you to be part of it!

This is the only time of the year where there’s a special event around the famous Sevierville Courthouse section of downtown Sevierville. Have you ever been to a courthouse where they had a huge stage erected to play a marathon of live bluegrass music and serve mountains of the best BBQ meat served by award-winning professionals? It’s the most fun you can have at the courthouse without being hauled off by the bailiff! There will also be a lot of tables and areas set up for additional family fun and arts and crafts vendors up and down the nearby streets as well. BBQ artists can sign up to compete for the best BBQ at the event and vocalists can sign up for the Mountain Soul Vocal Competition. See more at

You’re already familiar with all the awesome rides and attractions Dollywood features on a regular basis, right? Well, now imagine it serving the best BBQ chicken, ribs and pork you can find from late May to almost mid-June with almost round-the-clock performances by the best musicians in Bluegrass today at the best theme park in the South. It’s like you’d died and gone to Appalachian Heaven without all the inconvenience of shuffling off the mortal coil. Artists being showcased at Dollywood’s Barbeque & Bluegrass include Blue Highway, Flatt Lonesome, Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers, Mountain Faith, Fireside Collective, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, NewTown, Rhonda Vincent and The Rage, Phil Leadbetter and The All-Stars of Bluegrass and man more!

Both events are extremely easy to get to from practically all of our cabins on our program. Get the best end of Spring blowout with our festival feasts and a cabin from Bear Camp Cabin Rentals! See our cabins at FIND A CABIN